Radium Girls

Bandon Playhouse is excited to present “Radium Girls,” a play by D.W. Gregory, at the Sprague Community Theater.

Called a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama by critics, “Radium Girls” offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science.

In 1926, Madame Curie was an international celebrity, radium a miracle cure, and luminous watches the latest rage. Until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease.

Inspired by a true story, “Radium Girls” traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees.

Stephanie Jones directs this Bandon Playhouse production, performed by local actors of all ages from 10 to 75.